Cold, Dead Man
by Abandon Structure
Summary: #2 in the Dead and Gone Drabble Series. Owen wants his thingie back and Emma's just the girl to retrieve it for him. Features: Owen Harper, Emma DeLauro, Kyle from the Pretender, Dominic Vaile, Paul Ballard, and Warrick Brown.


"This place just keeps getting creepier and creepier every time I see it," Owen muttered to Warrick as the two of them entered the carnival themed bedroom.

"I like it," Dominic Vaile stated, grabbing a thing of popcorn from the nearby stand and surveying their surroundings with a happy smile. "It's neat."

"You died too young if you think this is still cool," Paul Ballard muttered, buttoning up his shirt as he headed for the door. "Later."

"Booty call?" Warrick hazarded, admiring one of the many hickey's currently decorating Paul's neck.

"Booty call," Dom and Owen agreed in tandem.

"Not that it's any of your business," Emma Delauro emerged from behind the full-size carousel, wiping her hands on a towel as she approached. "But I had nothing to do with those."

"Oooh," Owen grinned happily. "Paul's got a bird on the side. Wonder who she is?"

"Does it matter?" Emma replied, eyes narrowed slightly. "We should all just be happy that he's moved on."

"Sweetheart," Owen stated, slinging an arm companionably over the psionic's shoulders. "Paul may be moving a lot of things, but he hasn't moved on. Those aren't love-sex bites – those are hate sex bites."

"Hate sex bites?" Dom perked up at that. "What's the difference?"

"Depth," Warrick replied with all his years of experience backing him. "And the edges of the wound. Lovebites tend to have more of a direct in and out pattern – ragged edges means either someone was very, very excited, or very, very mad."

Dom took this in while eating his popcorn; Emma merely rolled her eyes, shrugging Owen's arm off her shoulders.

"What are you guys doing here, anyways?" She asked, setting her towel aside and reaching for some of Dom's popcorn, which he happily shared with the smokin' hot brunette.

"Can't we just stop by to see our favorite memory manipulator?"

"Right," Emma gave Owen a droll look. "And who's the person who said this room was what the tenth circle of hell would look like? Try again."

"Fine. Kyle took my internal gyroscope and won't give it back. Can you talk to him?"

"Why me?" Emma asked.

"Because you're the only one he listens to," Owen replied bluntly.

"Dude's got the hots for you," Dom agreed, tossing another handful of popcorn back.

"Fine." Emma agreed, turning her head and yelling over her shoulders. "Kyle!"

"What?" Came the cranky –tempered Pretenders reply as he poked his head out from one of the electric boxes.

"Give Owen his thingie back," Emma instructed with a faint grin twitching at the corners of her mouth as the three males in front of her blinked in surprise, jaws dropped and – in Dom's case – popcorn falling from his open mouth.

"It's not a thingie, dear," Kyle replied, snotty-toned but with a glint of humor as he pulled Owen's thingie from his back pocket. "It's a high-tech piece of technology that enables the user to externally view internal organs much the same way as an x-ray only minus the radiation. It was really very interesting to see how it works."

"You took it apart? My baby?" Owen snatched his gyroscope from Kyle's hand – much like Gollum and his ring – shooting the younger (or older, depending on your perspective – Kyle had been born first but he'd died earlier in life than Owen thus making him physically younger than Owen in appearance despite the fact that he was technically older…technically) man an angry glare.

"Relax," Kyle instructed, slinging an arm over Emma's shoulder causing her to beam up at him. "It works."

"Whatever, you twit," Owen sneered, already heading for the door. "Stop stealing my stuff!"

"You should really stop stealing his stuff," Emma agreed as she watched the door close behind the three interlopers.

"But he's always got the coolest stuff," Kyle replied matter of factly. "And he turns into such a little bitch when you touch it."

"You're people skills defy sense," Emma informed him dryly.

"What people skills?" Kyle replied, grinning as she elbowed him in the stomach before maneuvering her way out from under his arm and back towards the carousel.

"Come on," she invited, stopping halfway to the wooden horses to shoot him a look over her shoulders, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "You wanna ride?"

"Please tell me that's an innuendo," Kyle's heart fluttered in his chest when she smiled.

"You aren't going to find out just standing there."

Kyle was on her like white on rice in an instant – so fast it was almost dizzying, but Emma didn't mind.

For a cold, dead man, he had the hottest touch.


End file.
